One might ask why the shophouses in the main town on the island of Penang,Georgetown, were left standing so long in a poor state for them to be inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2008. The answer is simply the rent act which did not make it worthwhile for the owners to pull down and rebuilt like in Hong Kong or Singapore. The central part of the town, which is the heritage part, comprises streets with revitilised shop-houses, colonial era government buildings, temples and Chinese clan houses. Some of the buildings have been beautifullly restored but others are in a dire state of repair. Several shophouses have burnt down - could be that there are restrictions on improvements/development making it uneconomic to redevelop with current use.
The Anglican church - St George's - has been beautifully restored, with government money. It reopened on 20 February 2011 after 18 months. It is said to be the only "national" heritage (as opposed to "world" heritage) building in town.
Shophouses are an excellent concept. The ground floor is the shop, set back from the road. The house is above it and extends five feet in front of the shop frontage, the overhang being supported by arches and columns. The idea is that a covered pavement is thereby provided to give shelter from sun and rain for pedestrains. Outside the walkway is the monsoon drain, sometimes covered, sometimes not, sometimes with foot-sized holes for the unwary.
Over the years many of the shops have extended their sales area into the walkway, which also provides an excellent parking area for motorcycles,the asian motor car. Pedestrians have to take to the roads, outside the parked cars.
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